In the ongoing debate over bike stripes vs. bike paths vs. wide
curb lanes, let us throw our two cents' worth in and vote for
none of the above. If we're going to spend public money on
bicycle facilities--and we do think it permissible--let's put it into
structures that will actually be useful without being
redundant. The roads are already there, but oftentimes the
part we bicyclists use--the rightmost lanes of every street and
roadway not a limited-access highway--are seriously degraded
from the pounding that bus and truck traffic gives them.
Using money allocated for bicycle projects to repair and
repave the rightmost lanes of roads typically used by
commuting bicyclists in a city will not only facilitate
bicycling, but will make bicycle use of those roads extremely
attractive to motorists and their lackeys in government, since
the bicycle improvements will also augment driver comfort.
Bicyclists on the road will then be seen as magnets for
roadway improvements, and at least tolerated if not cherished
by motorists. We'll make life easier for ourselves both
physically and politically by doing this. The most difficult
part of the task will be identifying roads most often used by
bicyclists, but that could be done by a combination of
counting bicyclists on roads and interviewing active bicycle
commuters.

Another bit of bicycle infrastructure that would attract more
people to utility bicycling would be secure, sheltered lockups
at destination facilities such as shopping areas or office
centers. Sheltered from the rain and snow, because you like
to take off your foul weather gear before you present yourself
indoors, and because even in wimpy Los Angeles, we saw
numerous bicyclists out yesterday, pedaling through the frigid
aerial wateralls of an Alaskan storm (ourself among them, dry
in our British poncho!). In fact, a roofed wave-type bike rack
with some small lockers for helmets and so forth would be
ideal in the lower-crime areas of our cities. Also, bicycle
money could be used to subsidize bike parking inside office
and shopping complexes--perhaps. It would be easy to get
ripped off in trying this!

Lastly, we recommend trying to get the Universal Vehicle
Code, or at least local codes, changed to include a statement
such as this one: that the rightmost traffic lane of any road on
which bicycles are permitted be considered a bicycle lane
when it is occupied by a bicyclist, and treated accordingly by
drivers. Crowding, harassment, brushbacks, and so forth
would be treated as infractions. This will instantly build a
network of bike routes throughout whatever region enacts it at
very little cost. Perhaps it could be packaged with the
roadway improvement proposal of the first paragraph as a
one-for-me-one-for-you sort of deal.